BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 24
 

Pala Lon sat in the cabin that she’d been led to when her crew had been brought on board. The white furred fox had kept her separate from her people, and though isolated, she couldn’t complain about her treatment. It was more than what her people would have done had the roles been reversed. The Kastan people saw the races of the Planetary Alignment as weak for the most part, and little more than semi-intelligent animals.

  For her part, Pala had been almost an apostate. She liked the various worlds and members of the PA. Unfortunately she made these thoughts known, which had alienated her from her own species. Then during the Siilv War, she had gone so far as to rescue a small contingent of fleet personnel from a destroyed Pomen signals ship, hiding them in her parent’s home when their lifeboat had landed near-by before smuggling them off of Kastan. She’d had to kill several of her own kind during the escape, and now she was marked for immediate death should she ever return to her own homeworld. With no other choice available, she had decided to make her way among the varied worlds of the PA.

  Being a Kastan, though, had netted her little more than animosity, abuse and general hostility. The only jobs that she was offered normally involved contract killing, something she was loathe to engage in. While as skilled as any other of her people in the combat arts, she really didn’t like killing. So it was that she eventually found herself on the privateer Feral Self Embraced. With no money or prospects for gainful employment, and her growling stomach which ached from being neglected for days on end, Pala Lon accepted the offer to serve on the corsair ship.

  She lost herself during that time. The easy loot, the prestige she garnered from the rest of the crew, it was too much for one separated from contact with others, even if they weren’t her people. It was almost intoxicating, going to bed with a full belly, a partner to hold and pleasure her when she wished, and if not respect and affection, the fear and subservience of those around her was an adequate and heady substitute. Plus there was the added bonus of being able to obtain strawberries whenever the mood struck her.

  Then after a four month long run of misfortune, she challenged Jin Terek for the captaincy of the Feral. The wolverine had been enraged at her boldness, and he might have actually hurt her if he hadn’t been so fuddled with Black Weed that he was seeing double. As it was, the fight was over quickly and she took command of the frigate, which she renamed Dagger of the Patriarch in honor of her father, dead for so many years now and decided that it was time to expand their operation.

   The purchase of the two Wyvern fighters had been easy with the contacts the former Captain had had on Brandt. Then it was just a matter of finding viable targets.

  The first had been an ore hauler that gave up readily enough. The capture of that ship and the transfer of micronite ore had gone without a hitch. No one had been harmed and the credits had been a welcome boost to dwindling coffers. The second had been a small, but very valuable, haul of platinum and iridium ingots destined for Alexandrius.

  The third had been the Virtue of Satori. It hadn’t been Pala’s intention for anyone to get hurt, but the ransom of an ambassador was just too good to turn away from. They had been getting ready for boarding when this ship, the Guiding Angel, intervened. She was caught totally off guard at not just the firepower the freighter carried, but the ferocity its Captain and crew demonstrated. Even as her ship was shot to pieces and eventually neutralized, Pala felt something stirring in her that she hadn’t felt for almost two years.

  Respect for another.

  It was so strange. Pala had been dealing with the likes of her crew, the dregs of PA society, contacts on Brandt and Quet that would sell their own children, and had, for a profit, for so long that she realized not a single individual she’d met deserved respect. Not so with this ship and crew. They had thrown themselves against her with fervor! They had been dedicated to stopping her at all costs. Even as her ship was blasted by the upstart little freighter and its single fighter, she smiled at the audacity of it all, the zeal that they exhibited!

  Pala felt no anger or hatred at being bested, and gave her surrender to a Captain that was worthy. Oh! If only she’d met these people two years ago!

  The hatch to her cabin slid open with a hiss of pneumatic actuators, and she looked up from where she’d been sitting in silent contemplation of her situation. She saw the deep blue eyes of the white furred fox that commanded this ship and actually smiled. Behind him was the female panda in armor and armed, a couple of other underlings, all with weapons, all with serious expressions, and she knew what was to come next. It caused her no dismay. It had all been worth it just to see and meet individuals that showed such admirable traits, that had fought with an almost holy dedication and honor.

  “Ah. It must be time,” Pala said, smiling at the fox, though she remained sitting with her legs folded over each other in a meditative position in the middle of the bed. “I know that it may be too much to ask, but did you perchance find two long cases when you searched my private cabin aboard the Dagger of the Patriarch? About this long covered in blue velvet?” She held her hands apart a little over two and a half feet.

  Elias looked at her quizzically with a slight tilt to his head. “We did. They’re down in the cargo hold at the moment. May I ask why?”

  “I would prefer to die with a modicum of honor, if I may. Those were my Father’s blades. I would like my death to be by a good clean stroke of the blade. Please keep them when you are done. It’s only right that they should go to you, Captain Tivnan. And my hide. I think it would be a fitting trophy for you.” She said all of this while smiling, as if Elias were an old friend she were giving a treasured tea service to.

  “Um, we’re not here to execute you,” Elias said. He turned and looked out of the open hatch, made a dismissive gesture and shut the hatch. “May I sit?”

  Pala’s smile fell as this was not what she was expecting. “By all means, Captain Tivnan.”

  Elias took the chair that sat in front of the deactivated computer terminal and moved it so that he could look at the Kastan female. She spoke before he could.

  “I take it I am to be handed over to the authorities then? Ah, well. It won’t be honorable, but the result will be the same,” she said with a hint of sadness coloring her tone.

  Elias shook his head. “No. I’m not handing you over to the authorities, either. I know that you wouldn’t receive decent treatment or a fair trial. I have decided that I will not be party to arbitrary executions. That’s not what I do. You will have to pay for your crimes, however. As such, I am going to take you up on your offer.”

  Elias never thought that he would ever see shock on a Kastan’s face.

  “You defeated me in combat. It is only proper that you take me as your slave.”

  Again the fox shook his head. “Nope, not as a slave, either. You will be a member of this crew. You see, our charge is to hunt and eliminate pirates, raiders, slavers, you name it. For that I need dedicated individuals, and after looking over the records on your ship’s computer, I found out that you never killed if it was avoidable. You never ran slaves. You treated the crews of the ships that you took better than they would have fared under another. As such, you are something of a valuable asset that I can use. You know things that I don’t…who sells and buys stolen cargos, the locations of other pirates, fencing operations, black market ties.”

  Pala chuckled. “A member of your crew? I doubt the others onboard would support this concept, no matter how altruistic your motives. And I am more than certain your vaunted Spatial Police Force would do a little more than frown upon this proposal.” She began to laugh in earnest and it was several moments before she got herself under control. “You would take a known pirate onto your crew to hunt other pirates? And the people of the Planetary Alignment call my race insane? The Spatial Police Force will eventually catch you and see to it that you are lost on some little prison planet as far from the light of a civilized star as possible for the rest of your life!”

  “It’s not as insane as you think. The entire crew has decided to give you a chance. Who better to catch a pirate than a pirate?” Elias said with an answering grin of his own. “As for the SPF, we really don’t need to worry about them.” Elias drew an identicard from the inside pocket of his vest and handed it to the Kastan. “You see, we’re already here.”

  Pala took the card, looked at it for several seconds before collapsing with deep, throaty laughter.

  “It seems this has been ordained by the Lady of Fate,” Pala said as she handed the identicard back to the fox. “This is an odd request, but may I have your blade for a moment, Captain? I swear that I will not use it to harm you in the slightest.”

  Elias looked at the Kastan for a moment, her all black eyes were unreadable, but there was something…some feeling he had that was indefinable that made him feel that he could trust her. Without further hesitation, he drew the curved single-edged blade from the sheath on the right side of his belt and handed it handle first to Pala.

  No sooner did the Kastan take the blade then she drew the keen edge across the top of her forearm, wiped the steel on the fabric of her trews before handing the blade back.

  “By blood I am bound to you, Captain Tivnan. By blood am I sworn to serve. By blood is my life given to you and your line. Ever shall this be until by blood the oath is broken.”

  Elias took the knife back and slid it into its black leather sheath. “Um, that was a little drastic. I need to know, however, what you mean when you say ‘until by blood the oath is broken’? I don’t quite get that.”

  Pala smiled. “It means that you have to kill me to get rid of me. I’m sworn to you, your family, your children, your entire bloodline.” She placed her finger over the cut where blood welled up then reached out and drew a crimson line under Elias’s left eye then took his right hand and drew a glyph on the pad of his palm. “This is to signify that I have pledged everything that I am to you. I didn’t think that you’d want to follow the standard tradition of branding me.”

  Elias was astonished and looked at Pala. “This is fairly serious, Pala. Are you sure about this?”

  The Kastan rocked back into her previous position, unconsciously adjusting her tail before she sat on it. “How can I not? The only other options are to hand me over to your superiors to let me die or kill me yourself. This way I get to live. My race is generally held as being rather…unstable, mentally that is. Despite that, I can assure you that I would really prefer to continue living. This is the best way, and it is in the service of one that I feel is worthy.”

  Elias simply looked at her, wondering how it would all turn out with a new Kastan body guard. Pala didn’t say anything else, having closed her black eyes and resumed a meditative posture, all but ignoring the fox’s presence. Silently he stood and left her alone, making sure that the locks were disengaged on the cabin’s hatch so that she could come and go as she pleased.

  As Elias made his way to the bridge he wondered if his life could get any more complicated.

***

  “I wasn’t even aware that the Planetary Alignment was funding something like this,” Ambassador Thomas Ballan said as he set his wine glass down and looked at Elias, leaning forward with obvious interest.

  Dinner had been composed of several courses that featured dishes from all over the Alignment, and while not overly decadent, the selection had been astounding. There were meat dishes from Kantus, soups from Dennier and Tanthe, rich pastries and breads from Earth and seafoods from Crescentis and salads from Fyn and Pomen. Dessert had been cheesecake, apparently from the Terran city of New York. Now Elias, Cerise, the Ambassador, his wife, Selari, and daughter sat at the table enjoying a round of after dinner wine and brandy.

  Cerise was talking to the other females and there was quite a bit of giggling and laughter involved. Elias smiled at the little coterie and turned back to the Fynian diplomat. “Well, secrecy is our greatest strength, thus the reason that I had to have everyone agree to nondisclosure contracts.”

  “No need to apologize,” Ballan said with a wave of his hand. “But I would think that making it known that the SPF is using such a tactic would be beneficial as well. Not releasing information on the ships that are being used, or information on the crews, but letting the general populace know that such a program exists could help, I’d think. It might give some of the brigands pause to reconsider their actions.”

  “Oh, word will get around,” the fox said, declining a refill of his brandy by a staff member. “The pirates will talk amongst themselves. That talk will in turn will make its way to the elements that profit from and distribute the plunder. Word will spread. Unfortunately no organization is immune to spying. Only a select few within the Spatial Police Force even know of our mission.”

  Thomas Ballan smiled. “You are a brave individual, Elias. Very brave, indeed. To actively search out these parasites. You have my respect, young one.” Elias looked embarrassed at the praise, but said nothing. “So, I have to ask, being the overly inquisitive fool that I am, how many ships have you engaged with?”

  “We’ve captured three ships and performed one rescue, Sir. Two rescues if I include your vessel.”

  The feline’s eyes were bright and inquisitive. “And you’ve been doing this for how long?”

  Elias scratched at his left ear, absently touching the notch that was missing. “A little over three months, Excellency.”

  “All of that in three months! Most impressive.” Ambassador Ballan raised his glass and gestured to Elias. “Then here’s to you and your fine crew, Captain.”

  For his part, the fox was a little embarrassed, but accepted the accolades with as much grace as he could muster.

***

  The repairs on the Guiding Angel took a little over a week, with Stram and Rutger pressing the rest of the crew into service on repairing the shield emitters, save Pala Lon. While the rest of the members onboard the Okami crawled over the hull replacing or realigning emitter units, the Kastan worked within ensuring that the units functioned properly. She was assisted by Cerise and Sonja, for her part the vixen found the felinoid to be a fascinating individual.

  “You know, you aren’t at all like the stories I’ve heard regarding your species,” Cerise said as both of them checked the circuitry underneath the weapons station console where most of the overload damage on the bridge had occurred.

  “I’m fairly sure that most of the stories that you’ve heard are fairly close to the mark,” Pala said as she checked a reading on a portable tester. “My people tend to be very intense. Tradition is something that we adhere to almost fanatically. Mix that with strong emotions and general blood thirstiness, a visceral thrill when it comes to fighting and you aren’t too far from what most people believe about my species. Could you hand me a small coupler?”

  Cerise passed over the small tube that would attach to the ends of the wires and seal itself. “But you don’t seem to be like that at all.”

  Pala chuckled and crimped the ends of the coupler to the strands of the two conductive lines. There was a momentary curl of acrid smoke as the small tube fused the ends of the wire together. “That’s because I’m…I guess you’d say an aberration. I like the various races of the Planetary Alignment. I like their worlds, their cultures. If it hadn’t been for the Siilv War I would have probably gone on to the Diplomatic Service, maybe traveled to the many universities that are scattered across the Alignment.” The Kastan female began to prepare the next set of wires for splicing.

  Cerise was replacing a circuit board when the communications console chimed with the alert for an incoming message from Colonel Brees at the SPF headquarters on Joplin.

  “I got it,” Elias said, having just entered the bridge and before his wife could slide out from below. He routed the call to the pilot’s station and slid on his headset. “Insane asylum, head inmate speaking.”

  “Are you trying to be funny, son?” the lion growled.

  Elias could see that his commanding officer was looking a little rough around the edges. “Sorry, Sandy. You look like hell. What’s wrong?”

  “The investigation team was able to track down the individual that poisoned Cerise.”

  “Who?” he snarled the question. “Who did it, Sandy? I want to know.” The fox felt his hackles rising, but there was little he could do to control the automatic response that was ingrained into his genetic code.

  The lion shook his head and rubbed at red eyes. “You and the crew of the Guiding Angel are ordered to return to Dennier so that you can all testify in a closed court session. We’re trying to keep this as quiet as possible, so there won’t be any reporters or cameras. It’s also being held by the SPF Judge Advocate’s office and full quorum. Just get back as soon as repairs are made. With all due speed, Elias. No side trips and hunting is hereby suspended.”

  Elias swore vehemently before regaining a modicum of composure. “Who did it, Sandy? With this kind of treatment it must be someone with connections.”

  “If only that were the case. The individual we arrested was a known acquaintance of Keena and Cerise’s. One Marin Pizer. You should remember him. He was Keena’s date for your wedding ceremony. Needless to say that Rovi and Sharan are beside themselves on this one. This could very easily carry a death sentence if Keena is implicated, Elias. Attacks of this nature are very, very serious on Dennier. That Cerise is SPF now only complicates the whole stinking mess.”

  Elias sat still for a moment, letting the information sink in before he spoke. “We’ll be in the air the moment we’re finished with repairs. Figure sometime within the next fourteen hours.”

  “I wish this reunion were happening under better circumstances, son. We’ll see you when you get here.”

  The comm unit automatically disconnected when Sander Brees logged off. Elias pulled the headset off and hung it on the small hook close to the flight controls and sat back in the seat. He jerked upright when he felt hands begin to knead the suddenly taught muscles of his shoulders. He turned to find Cerise looking at him with her deep green eyes large with concern. “What’s wrong, Love? What was that call about?”

  Elias saw that Pala was also standing, quiet and still, but making no show of giving the pair a moment alone. There wasn’t really any point in trying to hide what he’d heard from the Kastan as he would have to tell the crew where they were headed next and why. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he took his mate’s hands in his.

  “Sandy and his team found out who poisoned you. They have him in custody and need us to set course for Dennier to testify for the trial and sentencing.”

  “He did?” the vixen asked. “’Him’ who? Who is it?”

  The fox sighed. “It was a friend of Keena’s, Love. His name’s Marin Pizer. They have him in custody on Dennier and are wanting us to return as witnesses for the trial.”

  Elias noticed past his mate that the Kastan was baring her teeth in an expression that there was no mistaking for a smile.

  Cerise had a Strange look on her face.

  “What is it?” Elias asked as he turned in the seat and took her hands.

  “Marin was a friend of mine in school, as well. We went on a couple of dates, but he really wasn’t my type. He told me after we graduated that he was in love with me and was furious when I told him that I didn’t feel the same. Since then he’s hated me, blaming me for all of his failures and shortcomings. I can’t believe that he’d do something like this, though.”

  There wasn’t really anything Elias could say to Cerise to help her overcome her shock. Though he did issue the orders that they had to lift within the next half day.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.